Skipping time

by Graham Antaya
(Vancouver by )

Question: I am writing about a immortal character who lives around 500 years and keeps journals of his life how far can I skip in time through out his 500 years if nothing interesting happens during the times I

am skipping.

Answer: The short answer is ... as much time as you need to.

Every story skips time. Stories are about the significant events, the turning points that change what follows.

Stories would be pretty boring if they included everything that happened to the characters. Never include the uninteresting parts. Summarize them quickly and get to the next significant event.

It doesn't matter how far apart these significant events are -- five minutes or five centuries.

Comments for Skipping time

You probably have the easiest job skipping time. I've kept a journal since I was 12 and I'm in my 20s now. Long habit, but there are big gaps to the tune of months when something big was happening that took up my time/emotional energy. I wrote it up afterwards to process it, so boom! plot points. There are also just boring times when there was no point writing anything down. You effectively have a self-editing narrating voice.

You also have no obligation to record every single journal entry this protagonist makes. Books skip stuff all the time. That's just good structuring. No one calls you on it.

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